Cosmic 1st: European spacecraft lands on cometDARMSTADT, Germany (AP) — Hundreds of millions of miles from Earth, a European spacecraft made history Wednesday by successfully landing on the icy, dusty surface of a speeding comet — an audacious cosmic first designed to answer big questions about the origin of the universe. Paolo Ferri, head of mission operations for the European Space Agency, said the landing on the comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko appeared to have been almost perfect...

2 dead in shooting attack at Canada's Parliament OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — A gunman with a scarf over his face shot to death a Canadian soldier standing guard at the nation's war memorial Wednesday, then stormed Parliament in a hail of gunfire before he was killed by the usually ceremonial sergeant-at-arms, authorities and witnesses said. The attack immediately raised the specter of terrorism, with Canada already on alert because of a deadly hit-and-run earlier in the week against two Canadian ...

US Ebola patient diesWASHINGTON (AP) — The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. died Wednesday despite intense but delayed treatment, and the government announced it was expanding airport examinations to guard against the spread of the deadly disease. The checks will include taking the temperatures of hundreds of travelers arriving from West Africa at five major American airports. The new screenings will begin Saturday at New York's JFK International Airp...

Hong Kong protesters threaten to occupy buildings HONG KONG (AP) — Raising the stakes in their standoff with the authorities, Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters threatened to occupy key government buildings unless the territory's top official resigns by the end of the day Thursday. The Chinese government, meanwhile, appeared to be losing patience. An editorial solemnly read Wednesday on state TV said all Hong Kong residents should support authorities in their efforts to "deploy police enfor...

Ebola-infected passenger was sent home from ERDALLAS (AP) — The airline passenger who brought Ebola into the U.S. initially went to a Dallas emergency room last week but was sent home, despite telling a nurse that he had been in disease-ravaged West Africa, the hospital said Wednesday in a disclosure that showed how easily an infection could be missed. The decision by Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to release the patient, who had recently arrived from Liberia, could have put others at...

Clooney marries human rights lawyer in Venice VENICE, Italy (AP) — George Clooney married human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Saturday, the actor's representative said, out of sight of pursuing paparazzi and adoring crowds. A smiling Clooney traveled up the spectacular Grand Canal to his wedding standing coolly aboard a water-taxi, waving to hundreds of well-wishers on shore and a flotilla of photographers chasing a glimpse of his final moments of bachelorhood. With the pink sunset casting...

Video shows slaying of British aid worker BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic State extremists released a video showing the beheading of British aid worker David Haines, who was abducted in Syria last year, and British Prime Minister David Cameron late Saturday condemned his slaying as "an act of pure evil." Cameron confirmed Haines' death in a statement posted on his official Twitter account after the British Foreign Office had said earlier that it was "working urgently to verify the video." Haine...

Obama orders airstrikes in Syria for first time WASHINGTON (AP) — Opening a new military front in the Middle East, President Barack Obama authorized U.S. airstrikes inside Syria for the first time Wednesday night, along with expanded strikes in Iraq as part of "a steady, relentless effort" to root out Islamic State extremists and their spreading reign of terror. "We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are," Obama declared in a prime-time address to the nation f...

Italy's Vincenzo Nibali wins Tour de FrancePARIS (AP) — Vincenzo Nibali put his lungs and legs to work one last time, marching up to the winner's podium of the Tour de France and sighing deeply before the Italian anthem echoed over the Champs-Elysees. Chants of "Vin-cen-zo!" rang across the famed avenue for the Sicilian, who dominated the race nearly from the start three weeks ago and on Sunday became the first Italian to win cycling's greatest race since Marco Pantani in 1998. Marcel ...

Air Algerie flight 'probably crashed' in MaliALGIERS, Algeria — An Air Algerie flight carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso to Algeria's capital disappeared from radar early Thursday over northern Mali during a rainstorm, officials said. France deployed fighter jets to search for wreckage and the country's president said the plane most likely crashed. The MD-83 vanished less than an hour after takeoff from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Air Algerie Flight 5017 was operated by ...

Ukraine: 298 on Malaysia plane shot down over east HRABOVE, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down a Malaysian jetliner with 298 people aboard Thursday, sharply escalating the crisis and threatening to draw both East and West deeper into the conflict. The rebels denied downing the aircraft. American intelligence authorities believe a surface-to-air missile brought the plane down but were still working on who fired the missile and whether it came from the Russia...

89 killed in worst Afghanistan bombing since 2001 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives near a busy market and a mosque in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least 89 people in the deadliest insurgent attack on civilians since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The blast destroyed numerous mud-brick shops, flipped cars over and stripped trees of their branches, brutally underscoring the country's instability as U.S. troops prepare to leave by the end...

Anger, grief simmer after 245 miners die in TurkeySOMA, Turkey — In a relentless procession that ignited wails of grief, rescue workers coated in grime lumbered out of a mine in western Turkey again and again on Wednesday, struggling to carry stretchers laden with bodies covered in blankets. The corpses' faces were as dusty black as the coal they worked on daily — and the fate of an unknown number of others remained unclear as events unfolded in one of the world's deadliest mining disasters i...

Fears rise for missing in SKorea ferry sinking MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — Strong currents and bad visibility hampered rescuers Thursday in the search for 289 passengers still missing more than 24 hours after their ferry flipped onto its side and filled with cold water off the southern coast of South Korea, causing fury among families waiting for word of passengers who were mostly high school students. Seven were confirmed dead, but many expect that number will rise sharply because the missi...

Industry group seeks continuous flight tracking KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — An aviation industry group is creating a task force to make recommendations this year for continuously tracking commercial airliners because "we cannot let another aircraft simply vanish" like Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. As low clouds, rain and choppy seas off western Australia hampered Tuesday's hunt for the missing jet, the head of the operation warned that the 25-day-old search "could drag on for a long time,...

Magnitude-8.2 quake strikes northern Chile SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A powerful magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck off Chile's northern coast Tuesday night, causing landslides and setting off a small tsunami that forced an evacuation of coastal areas. In the city of Arica, the mayor reported some minor injuries and said some homes made of adobe were destroyed. The quake shook modern buildings in nearby Peru and in Bolivia's high altitude capital of La Paz. The U.S. Geological Survey initiall...

Latest information on search for missing jet (March 28)Australia announced Friday that the search area for the Malaysia Airlines jet that disappeared March 8 has shifted to a new Indian Ocean region, 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) to the northeast of where planes and ships had been trying to find it. WHY THE SHIFT? Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said an additional analysis of radar data indicated the plane was traveling faster than was previously thought,...